Fictitious

In this episode, I’m excited to welcome Martha Wells, author of THE MURDERBOT DIARIES. This award-winning science fiction series features the introverted, cynical, and frequently hilarious security robot that thinks privately of itself as MurderBot. It's a half-machine, half-organic construct, corporate owned and rented out to space-exploring organizations.   There’re plenty of SecUnit’s just like it, except MurderBot hacked its systems to allow greater autonomy — which mostly consists of slacking on the job and downloading as much serial entertainment as it can stream.   When its latest clients, a scientific research team exploring a distant planet, find themselves in danger after a neighboring mission group go dark, MurderBot must exploit all its unique talents and perspectives to defend them. Which risks revealing to its human crew that it’s broken free of its corporate limitations, as well as an unpleasant history that inspired its threatening moniker.   THE MURDERBOT DIARIES include 4 novellas — ALL SYST

Emily B. Martin is the author of SUNSHIELD (HarperVoyager, available now), an adventurous eco-fantasy that weaves together the lives of a desert outlaw, a young ambassador, and a political prisoner.    Known as the Sunshield Bandit, a former slave named Lark roams desolate canyons, attacking the wagons of human traffickers, and taking from the rich to feed her team and their rescued captives.   Translator and minor noble Veran has journeyed to a foreign court in hopes of halting injustices perpetuated by the ruling class, but friendly relations have turned inexplicably hostile.   And walled away in a makeshift cell, the battered—but not beaten—Tamsin must figure out who has stolen her from the most important of responsibilities, and how she can escape to right those wrongs.    These three beleaguered activists know nothing of each other, but their common goals will intertwine against corrupt politics, brutal slavery, and ecological destruction. 

In this episode by debut author Alina Boyden. Her new historically-inspired Fantasy novel is STEALING THUNDER, available May 12th from ACE Books.    It follows Razia, a sought-after dancer and courtesan with a wealthy and powerful clientele. She is also a thief, stealing from clients in cooperation with her found family of hijras.   But though her late night thievery poses constant danger, her greatest fear is the reveal of her past identity. Because Razia was once the crown prince of a nearby kingdom. She escaped her hateful father to live life as a women, as her true self, on her own terms.   When a new client, an influential prince himself, takes a great interest in her, Razia is thrust again into royal politics and conflict. Revelation of her royal origin could bring violence and death by her father’s orders, but her precarious situation may also give her the chance to steal back the single thing she loved and lost from her past life. 

Menna van Praag is the author of THE SISTERS GRIMM (available now from HarperVoyager Books). It's a dark and evocative tale of four seemingly unrelated young women united by a surreal, supernatural origin. Goldie, Liyanna, Scarlet, and Bea are all on the cusp of 18, each burdened by complicated family relationships, and all filled with a deep sense of longing for something they can’t quite remember. As children, they found each other in Everwhere, an unchanging world outside of their world, of magic and perpetual night. Crossing over to Everwhere is a gift only the offspring of a single demonic father possess. But as teenagers, they are torn from each other, and forget their shadowy dreamworld. Now, about to come of age, the powers that are their birthright flare into existence again, and the gates to Everwhere reopen to them. Their father’s other children prowl there, too, though — sons-turned-solidiers, whose all-consuming mission is to kill their father’s powerful daughters. Enemies and alliances form as t

This episode features my first return guest — Dan Stout! His new novel, TITAN'S DAY (DAW Books) is the sequel to one of my favorite books of 2019, TITANSHADE. TITAN’S DAY returns us to the city of Titanshade, our police investigator protagonist Carter, and his two-mouthed, mandibled partner, Ajax. Their discoveries in the first novel have changed the fate and fortunes of their dirty, cold and crime-ridden city — whether for good or ill, who yet can say? But bodies are still showing up in alleyways, so Carter and Ajax are back on the streets — and back in the thick of inter-department politics and inner city crime syndicate conflict. The detectives race to save innocent lives as the boom-town tips towards anarchy, and all-out war threatens the lives of human — and otherwise-humanoid citizens — during the city’s biggest celebration of the year: Titan’s Day. TITAN'S DAY is available now where books are sold.

Tricia Levenseller is the author of THE SHADOWS BETWEEN US (available now from Feiwel & Friends). It’s a young adult fantasy novel that’s been quite accurately described as a “Slytherin romance”. It follows the charming and cunning Alessandra, the second daughter of mid-level nobility, for years left to pursue her own lusts and liaisons while her favored older sister awaited a suitor. Now of age and availability to be brought to society, Alessandra has her sights set on a singular target — the elusive and mysterious Shadow King, a young ruler wrapped in living darkness. But Alessandra doesn’t just seek courtship — she desires nothing less than the throne and total control. She intends to steal the heart of the king — and then kill him — so she’ll have that throne all to herself. Because she isn’t just a confident and conniving would-be queen, she’s a murderer who killed her first love when he scorned her. But she’s not the only person at court who wants to assassinate the Shadow King, and winning his true

K.B. Wagers is the author of A PALE LIGHT IN THE BLACK (HarperVoyager). It’s a good vibes military space opera that follows the Near Earth Orbital Guard, essentially a spacefaring Coast Guard protecting humanity within our solar system. The Neo-G crew of the Interceptor ship Zuma’s Ghost prepares for the annual Boarding Games — a multi-military competition which carries huge prestige, bragging rights, and useful inter-branch clout. But this tight-knit found family faces destabilization as their lieutenant commander is promoted off the ship, replaced with Maxine Carmichael, a capable but awkward young woman whose family name carries a great deal of influence and baggage. As Max works to gel with the team’s volatile mechanic and conflicted captain, their Neo-G missions uncover a strange pattern of interconnected mysteries — worried smugglers who die suspiciously in military custody, colony ships lost for generations turning up without their suspended animation crews, and corporate intrigues that might just haun

Season 5 of Fictitious kicks off with Brian Keene, one of the writers on the new Serial Box and Marvel production, THOR: METAL GODS. Brian has authored more than 50 horror, crime, and fantasy novels, and written for DC and Marvel Comics properties and other media tie-ins, including Doctor Who and The X-Files. Now, as part of the Serial Box team, he is co-writing a prose and audio drama space adventure series that follows fan favorite Asgardians Thor and Loki on a quest for a dangerous alien artifact. THOR: METAL GODS is available now as a 15 episode series on SerialBox.com. 

K. Eason is the author of HOW RORY THORNE DESTROYED THE MULTIVERSE — out now from DAW Books. This charming and subversive fantasy-meets-space opera tale follows a young princess who is uprooted from her planet, and her throne, sent off-world to be a pawn for intergalactic politics. But Rory Thorne is no run-of-the-mill fantasy princess, and is definitely no pawn. Rory must use all of her wits, gifts, and determination to turn a manipulative Regent’s plot against him, rescue a mislaid prince she is supposed to be betrothed to, and perhaps avoid plunging the entire star system into chaos and conflict.

This episode focuses on National Novel Writing Month – NaNoWriMo – in November 2019. Host Adron Buske shares his own experiences participating in NaNo and his plans for this year's project. The episode also includes a rebroadcast discussion with Grant Faulkner, the executive director of the NaNoWriMo non-profit organization. 

Madeleine Roux is the author of the adult sci-fi thriller SALVAGED (Ace Books). Set in deep space, SALVAGED follows Rosalyn Devar, a bioengineer from an influential family who has fled past traumas for the unglamorous life of a "space janitor". When catastrophic failures leave valuable ships floating in the void full of dead crew, Rosalyn and her fellow salvagers are sent out to clean up the human remains and send the ships home. Her latest assignment delivers her to the Brigantine, a research vessel gone dark. But, once aboard, Rosalyn discovers that the crew are still quite alive. But, with gaping wounds, glowing blue eyes, and a parasitic hive-mind wrestling for control of their identities, they are no longer precisely human. What follows is a desperate fight to keep the parasite from dominating humanity itself, as Rosalyn seeks allies among the infected, while struggling with her own inner demons. Madeleine's previous work includes the popular YA horror series ASYLUM and HOUSE OF FURIES.

Clay McLeod Chapman is the author of meta-horror thriller THE REMAKING (Quirk Books). The tragic campfire tale of a mother and daughter burned as witches haunts the imagination of a small town local – including a budding horror director. When child actress Amber Pendleton is cast in a '70s B-movie about the urban legend, it seems like a springboard to a Hollywood career. Instead, the traumatic events of the film follow her into a medication-saturated, cash-poor 1990s adulthood. She makes her living at third-rate horror conventions, signing photographs for too-eager fans who cannot separate Amber from her disastrous childhood. But when the story that destroyed her life comes calling – again and again – does Amber have any choice but to play a new, desperate part each time? THE REMAKING follows that backwoods ghost story from '70s horror flick to '90s auteur remake to modern day true crime podcast, each time asking – why do these tales consume us, and do we really care about the lives they ruin for our entertai

Annalee Newitz is the author of the sci-fi time travel novel, THE FUTURE OF ANOTHER TIMELINE (Tor Books). In a world where present-to-past time travel is an accepted fact, geo-scientist Tess uses her university-funded temporal travels for both research and resistance. While a subversive group of travelers seeks to alter history and solidify the subjugation of women, Tess works in secret to minimize the damage of their "edits" and keep them from permanently locking the timeline. But although a dire confrontation looms somewhere in the centuries around her, Tess can't keep herself from breaking time travel taboo – stepping back into her own history in an attempt to prevent a riot girl teenager named Beth's involvement in murder. 

Jennifer Giesbrecht is the author of THE MONSTER OF ELENDHAVEN (Tor.com Publishing). This dark fantasy novella follows the unkillable, not-exactly human Johann as he slinks about the smokey, dark corner of the industrial-gothic city of Elendhaven. Johann murders and steals with unnatural anonymity, until he develops an obsession with Florian – a prominent, old-money accountant who is, in fact, a sorcerer. In a poisoned land ravaged by magical misuse, being a mage is illegal and will call hunters down on you. Johann courts Florian’s affection even as he becomes a puppet to the sorcerer’s long-festering need for vengeance, and together they pursue a violent plan that may tear them – and their city – apart. 

Heli Kennedy is a writer on ORPHAN BLACK: THE NEXT CHAPTER, a new continuation of the popular BBC America TV series, this time brought to life as a prose serial, and audio drama narrated by the show’s award-winning star, Tatiana Maslany. ORPHAN BLACK follows a group of young women who discover they are all identical clones, created and monitored by a nefarious technological group, and pursued by other scientific and religious groups for being abominations of nature. Set 8 years after the end of the original series, ORPHAN BLACK: THE NEXT CHAPTER introduces a new clone, Vivi Valdez, opening up a new window into this exciting, dark sci-fi world.  ORPHAN BLACK: THE NEXT CHAPTER is available on the Serial Box platform and app. The first installment of the series was released September 12th at SerialBox.com.

Recorded live at San Diego Comic-Con 2019, this panel discussion is called 10 Points to Slytherin: Why Good Fans Love Evil Characters. It features an awesome group of writers: Marissa Meyer (The Lunar Chronicles, Renegades), Renée Ahdieh (The Wrath and the Dawn series, The Beautiful), Keto Shimizu (Legends of Tomorrow, Arrow), Caitlin Starling (The Luminous Dead), and Shaun Barger (Mage Against The Machine).  With their fascinating backstories, dangerous aesthetics, and devil-may-care attitudes, it’s easy to see why many fans identify with the bad guys. But what does it say about you when you proudly claim allegiance to Slytherin House, the 501st, or Hydra?

Hugo Award-winner Alix E. Harrow is the author of the historical portal fantasy, THE TEN THOUSAND DOORS OF JANUARY (Orbit Books / Red Hook). In the early years of the 20th century, a young girl named January finds herself the ward of a wealthy aristocrat, Mr. Locke. A dark-skinned girl of ambiguous ethnicity, January is a source of curiosity and skepticism for her benefactor’s society of affluent, white, would-be treasure hunters. Amongst Locke’s peculiar collection, she discovers an even more peculiar book, and in it a tale of Doors that open onto other worlds. January feels the the truth of its words, because she opened one such Door when she was a child. As her tightly wound-life begins to unravel, these Doors may be her only escape – though an oppressive household will be the least of what she flees from. 

Katy Rose Pool is the debut author of the young adult fantasy novel, THERE WILL COME A DARKNESS. It’s a world shaped by seven great prophets who, after a two-thousand year reign, vanished a century ago. Now, their secret and final prophecy is coming to fruition, and with it, comes an Age of Darkness. Amidst chaos and conflict, five young people from wildly different backgrounds are pulled together to fulfill unexpected roles in the prophecy – to either save their world, or irrevocably break it. A Fierce Reads title, THERE WILL COME A DARKNESS arrives September 3rd from Henry Holt and Company.

K. A. Doore is author of THE PERFECT ASSASSIN, a suspense-driven fantasy adventure set in a sand-strewn city of platforms rising above the desert wastes. A young historian takes his first rooftop leaps into the life of an assassin, a noble family tradition with definitive rules of conduct and contracts. But when he discovers the body of a prominent city leader, it falls on his shoulders to solve the crime before conspiratorial intrigue and angry spirits tear his world apart. THE PERFECT ASSASSIN is a unique coming-of-age story, entwining reluctant romance with murder mystery. It’s available now from TOR Books, and the follow-up novel, THE IMPOSSIBLE CONTRACT, arrives in stores on November 12th.

Evan Winter is the author of the epic fantasy debut, THE RAGE OF DRAGONS (Orbit Books). In a caste-driven society that has known only war for generations, a low-born commoner name Tau's life is destroyed by the very people he was born to serve. Though his path is blocked by ruthless nobles, magic-enraged warriors, and the Gifted who call down the fire of dragons, Tau dedicates his life to a singular ambition — do anything necessary to have his revenge on the men who took away all that he loved. But his bloody struggle will cost more than he can imagine, and perhaps put the very survival of his people in his hands.